Europe Central Bank

European Central Bank policymakers may struggle to find consensus on cutting interest rates this week as council members differ on prospects for an economic recovery this year, economists say. ECB President Wim Duisenberg said Feb. 22 that he no longer expects a rebound this year, leading investors to bet on a rate cut at the council's next meeting. Three days later, Bank of France Governor Jean-Claude Trichet forecast a "significant" recovery by the end of this year.

WASHINGTON - The shaky global economy got a much-needed breather after Europe's top central banker pledged to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro. Financial markets in the U.S. were further buoyed Thursday by a pair of better-than-expected economic reports at home: The Labor Department said Thursday that initial jobless claims fell sharply last week, and the Commerce Department reported that new orders for longer-lasting manufactured goods rose at a healthy rate in June. Neither report was as good as it appeared on the surface, but investors seemed to look past that as they took comfort in the news out of Europe.

The sudden resignation Friday of a key member of the European Central Bank aggravated a sense of disarray over how to rescue the continent's debt-laden countries, adding to gloomy economic news out of Europe that hammered global stock markets and sent the euro currency plunging. German economist Juergen Stark said he was quitting his post on the central bank's policy committee, a move widely seen as a repudiation of the bank's strategy of purchasing government bonds from heavily indebted countries such as Italy and Spain in order to keep their borrowing costs down.

The sudden resignation Friday of a key member of the European Central Bank aggravated a sense of disarray over how to rescue the continent's debt-laden countries, adding to gloomy economic news out of Europe that hammered global stock markets and sent the euro currency plunging. German economist Juergen Stark said he was quitting his post on the central bank's policy committee, a move widely seen as a repudiation of the bank's strategy of purchasing government bonds from heavily indebted countries such as Italy and Spain in order to keep their borrowing costs down.

With inflation a concern amid strong economic growth, the European Central Bank signaled Thursday that it would lift its key interest rate next month, while the Bank of England raised rates in Britain to their highest level in six years. Officials of the European bank, meeting Thursday in Dublin, Ireland, agreed to hold their benchmark rate at 3.75%.

Wall Street was braced for a grim week as the U.S. government's downgraded credit rating and Europe's worsening debt crisis fueled fears of a repeat of the 2008 financial-system meltdown. Policymakers of the Group of 7 industrialized nations sought to head off another panic, pledging Sunday to "take all necessary measures to support financial stability and growth. " The European Central Bank announced Sunday that it would jump into the markets to buy euro-zone government bonds, hoping to stave off selling Monday by frightened investors.

The European Central Bank could cut interest rates further and resort to alternative measures to fight the economic crisis after trimming the benchmark rate to its lowest point since World War II, its president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said Thursday. Although the quarter-point cut to 1.25% on Thursday was smaller than most analysts had predicted, Trichet said he did not exclude the possibility, "in a very measured way, that we could go down from the present rate."

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet added to uncertainty about euro-zone monetary policy Monday, saying he would not commit to any interest rate decisions before a rate-policy meeting next week. Answering questions after a speech in Budapest, Hungary, Trichet noted that his Aug. 2 policy stance, in which he called for "strong vigilance" to stem inflation, was articulated before recent credit worries triggered unusual market volatility.

The European Central Bank on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate to a near-six-year high of 4% and showed its readiness to hike again to combat inflationary dangers in a strongly expanding economy. But ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet gave limited guidance on how soon the next rate increase would come, or how much tightening remains in store, leaving markets uncertain over the precise course ahead. Stocks fell sharply across the continent.

The blue-chip Standard & Poor's 500 index joined the Nasdaq composite at a new four-year high on Friday, as stocks closed out a fourth-straight winning week. But Treasury bond yields rose for the first time since Monday after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet signaled that the bank was preparing to raise interest rates.